Goodbyes of the Aged
by Sabsz
Summary: Elizabeth waits every ten years for William Turner to step off the Flying Dutchman to be hers again. And now, fifty years later, she waits on the shore to be reunited with him once more. WillElizabeth ONESHOT.


This is a oneshot concerning Elizabeth and Will. I needed to take a quick break from Tortugan Beginnings and write something else. I am not continuing this because this is a oneshot.

Disclaimer: Of course, I own nothing.

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**Goodbyes of the Aged **

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Elizabeth Swann-Turner sat upon a dusty rock upon the shore, waiting, her feet bare and her dress rolled up to her knees as the soft tide washed over her skin. With pleasure, she closed her eyes, just basking in the soft Caribbean breeze that enveloped her with warmth. She was _waiting._ Time seemed to slow down for her, time seemed to stop. She almost thought that the new day would never begin. The night was so quiet, so silent. The moonlight bounced upon the tranquil waters, dancing and reflecting in her chocolate eyes.

It had been fifty years and she saw only saw him five times within that era. Her face had aged with the slow decay of time. Wrinkles riddled her skin, her soft brown eyes dulled with age. No longer was she the Pirate King, but simply an old woman waiting for her long lost love.

Her spirit had slowly but surely diminished. It happened with age. As the hands of the clock turned, she became more diminutive and solitary. No longer were the days when she sailed underneath the Caribbean sun with Jack Sparrow at her side, laughing and laughing. Those days had left her long ago and now, she was simply a lonely woman who was cheated out of the life she should have had.

Their love story was legend, their love everlasting. Yet, as those ten years ticked by, she felt his face fading in her memory. Elizabeth tried to remember, she tried to recall his sharp features and soft brown eyes. She tried to remember his mop of black curls pulled back in a plait and looking as he did fifty years ago, when they were both so young and so in love. But she couldn't. Her memory was not as it was. And it killed her to know that she couldn't even remember his handsome face.

The sun rose slowly above the horizon, her heart stopping in her chest. It happened every ten years. Elizabeth always felt apprehensive to see him. She was frightened, she was so terrified that he would lay his eyes upon her and be repulsed by her age. She was no longer beautiful, she was old. Her hair was no longer the honey brunette that cascaded down her back in soft waves. Now it was grey, streaked with silver and reflected her age.

Elizabeth Turner was seventy-three and she waited for her appearing twenty-four-year-old husband with anxiety. He _should _have aged along with her and he _should _have stayed with her all these years, but both of them had been horribly cheated.

The green flash that erupted over the horizon reflected in her eyes and she smiled softly. She could faintly see the _Flying Dutchman_ sailing towards her slowly. With her eyes closed, she waited for him to step off the ship and be rowed to shore. Only then would she die happily, having his face fresh in her memory as she slowly perished.

"Elizabeth," she heard. "Is it really you?"

The old woman opened her eyes slowly and smiled at him. "Will, it's me. I've missed you." she said to her young husband.

"I've waited for this day for ten years, Elizabeth." he softly murmured as he walked closer to her.

She softly laughed. "You say that every ten years to me, Will."

William gazed at her, in awe at the beauty she still possessed even with her age. He was neither repulsed nor disgusted at her appearance. She was as beautiful as the day Barbossa had married them. "It's true, Elizabeth. Every ten years I ache for the day to see your beauty once more."

Elizabeth shook her head sadly. "I am not as you remember me, Will. I'm not beautiful any longer. Beauty left me a long time ago."

"I feel inclined to disagree," William laughed softly. "Did you not believe me when I said that my heart always belonged to you, Elizabeth? Even fifty years later."

William took her hand and held it tightly. He pulled her in for a tight embrace. It took Elizabeth a few moments to realize she felt his tears upon her cheek. Elizabeth pulled away and a ghost of a smile tugged at her lips. She wanted to gaze at his face forever. But suddenly, she looked away. A single, rogue tear slipped down her cheek.

"Elizabeth?" he voiced with fear. "What's wrong?"

She looked back at him. "I'm dying," she uttered, her voice low and wavering with sadness. "This will be our last time on this shore."

William Turner felt as if he had been knocked with a thousand bricks. He felt its burden upon his shoulders and he could hardly breathe. With tears slipping from his cheeks, he shook his head as if he refused to believe it. Elizabeth couldn't die! She was too perfect, too beautiful to be taken from him! How could it be that he was never to see her again until the world stopped turning? How could it be that he was never to see those beautiful, brown, doe eyes again?

"No," he croaked in disbelief. "This can't be true!"

"It's true, Will. It's true. There's nothing that can be done." Elizabeth responded.

He moved his gaze from his face and towards the horizon. He inhaled sharply as he finally realized what she was saying. He would never see her again after this day. "But I love you. You're perfect. How can you die, Elizabeth?"

"I'm sick, that's all, Will," she paused. "It's just my time."

Will nodded with tears glistening in his eyes. There was no use fighting it. There was no use trying to pull back the hands of time. It was set; it was the way things were. He was immortal and she, sadly, was not. The curse of mortality was upon her. She felt the cool envelope of death; she felt its shadow upon her. There was no use fighting it. There was no use crying to the Heathen Gods asking for a different fate. William Turner, the immortal Pirate Captain of the seas, could not change her fate.

Elizabeth Swann-Turner was to die and Will could not change that.

"I love you, Elizabeth." he whispered.

She shook her head. "Don't say your goodbyes yet, Will. Not yet. There will come a time when the world will end and you will end along with it and we will see each other once more. Say your goodbyes as you return back to the _Dutchman_, not now Will. Not now."

"When did you become so wise?" Will smiled in a joking way with the sadness and his forlorn loneliness reflecting in his eyes.

Elizabeth laughed softly. "When I became so old."


End file.
